Friends of mine had purchased the dinner for eight at a gala for the WaterCan charity. And lucky for me, they needed more bodies to fill the seats, so in I stepped.
It was one of the most interesting nights I've spent. Our hosts were Naela Chohan, the acting High Commissioner of Pakistan, and her husband, Musa Javed Chohan, now a retired a diplomat. Together they've spent decades in the foreign service, and have served their country in Paris, Tehran and Malaysia. In a few weeks, they're leaving Ottawa so that Naela can take up her new post in Buenos Aires.
Their home was full of interesting artefacts, collected from their various stints around the world, and from Pakistan itself. Naela is an artist, and she had many of her paintings hanging in the home. She took us on a tour after dinner, explaining the political and feminist themes of her works.
Musa had a career in the military before he joined the foreign service, so he showed off his collection of ceremonial daggers. Now he's a reformed soldier turned poet, and he gave a reading of several of his poems after dinner.
The meal itself consisted of what Naela told us was traditional fare -- lentil soup, a seafood mash, fish and brown basmati rice. We even had wine with dinner, something none of us were expecting. Apparently the menu was chosen because Pakistan is making efforts to export its seafood around the world. Who knew!
Unfortunately, the food wasn't quite as spicy or flavourful as I had hoped. I'm not sure if they dulled it down for the Canadian guests or not.
But the conversation more than made up for anything the food may have lacked. It was fascinating (and humbling) to learn about Pakistan -- and realize how little I know about this part of the world. I was stunned to find out that the city of Karachi has more than 21 million people, meaning that almost all of Canada could fit into that one city. It was so interesting to learn about the education system, social customs (including the very involved wedding ceremonies), and the vast regional, cultural and political differences among the various provinces. Our hosts were incredibly diplomatic (naturally) when asked about Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan, and were fairly honest in admitting their county has its share of problems, but as a developing nation, their people were doing the best they could.
Above all, what struck me was Naela's passionate refrain that Pakistan was a country of romance, and its inhabitants value language, creativity, dance, poetry, music and art -- in all its forms. It may be a naive description, but perhaps it's one that deserves some consideration from the rest of the world.
My signed copy of Barricaded Self, a collection of poetry by Musa Chohan.
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